Visit of North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kae-gwan to New York
Press Statement Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State Washington, DC
July 24, 2011
I had a very productive trilateral meeting yesterday with Foreign Minister Kim of the Republic of Korea and Foreign Minister Matsumoto of Japan. We had a chance to consult and coordinate our diplomatic efforts and approaches with North Korea.
Following the first round of denuclearization talks between the nuclear negotiators of the Republic of Korea and North Korea, the United States has invited North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kae-gwan to New York later this week.
Vice Foreign Minister Kim will meet with an interagency team of U.S. officials for discussions on the next steps necessary to resume denuclearization negotiations thru the Six Party Talks.
This will be an exploratory meeting to determine if North Korea is prepared to affirm its obligations under international and Six Party Talk commitments, as well as take concrete and irreversible steps toward denuclearization.
As we have stated repeatedly, we are open to talks with North Korea, but we do not intend to reward the North just for returning to the table. We will not give them anything new for actions they have already agreed to take. And we have no appetite for pursuing protracted negotiations that will only lead us right back to where we have already been.
The U.S. position remains that North Korea must comply with its commitments under the 2005 Joint Statement of the Six Party Talks, relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions, and the terms of the Armistice Agreement.
As always, we will remain in very close coordination with the Republic of Korea and other partners.
North Korean government advises foreign diplomats to leave the country by April 10th
nknews.org“A representative of the North Korean foreign ministry suggested that the Russian side examine the question of evacuating the employees of the Russian embassy,” embassy spokesman Denis Samsonov said.
…
A spokesman from the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) confirmed embassies other than Russia had received the same warning. ”We can confirm that the British Embassy in Pyongyang received a communication from the North Korean government this morning.”
“[The warning] said that the North Korean government would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organisations in the country in the event of conflict from April 10.”
All bark and no bite? While conventional wisdom is that this is just more toothless blustering by the DPRK, Pyongyang has certainly gone farther this time with its rhetoric than in the past, causing us to—at the very least—question the conventional wisdom. That being said, we still don’t think anything major will come of this. By the way, if you’re still confused as to why North Korea is doing this, NKNews.org has a great round up of expert opinions on the matter.
The Difference Between North and South Korea
Check out the difference between North and South Korea! The capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, looks like a prison city stuck in the 60’s or 70’s.While the capital of South Korea, Seoul, is a brightly lit, colorful and vibrant city. What a difference!
[caption id=”attachment_1126” align=”aligncenter” width=”562” caption=”via Reddit”]
[caption id=”attachment_1127” align=”aligncenter” width=”562” caption=”via Reddit”]
Anonymous Takes On Kim Jong Un
nymag.comHackers claiming to be part of hacktivist group Anonymous decided to take on a new target: Kim Jong Un. Apparently, they have gained access to usernames and passwords of members of Uriminzokkiri, a site for North Korean news and propaganda.
The group had clear, direct orders for Kim Jong Un:
We demand:
- N.K. government to stop making nukes and nuke-threats
- Kim Jong-un to resign
- it’s time to install a free direct democracy in North Korea
- uncensored internet access for all the citizens!
They even included a small message to the citizens of North Korea, telling them to rise up and bring the government down.
